GAO report shows how US schools spent pandemic relief funds, including on better ventilation A new report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes that, by the end of the 2021-22 school year, US school districts had spent about $60 billion in federal COVID-19 emergency aid through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund. CIDRAP

...

Contrary to perceptions, vaccine refusal found to be lower for Black patients than white patients Throughout the COVID pandemic, the media widely reported that Black patients were more likely than white patients to refuse vaccines, including the influenza and COVID vaccines. American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Medical Xpress

...

Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases of Bird Flu - KFF Health News Emails show how health officials struggle to track the bird flu, partly in deference to the agricultural industry. As a result, researchers don’t know how often farmworkers are being infected — and could miss alarming signals. kffhnamym KFF Health News

...

CDC panel lowers age for key vaccine. What older adults should know. A panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to lower the recommended age for older adults to get their pneumococcal vaccine. Adrianna Rodriguez USA TODAY

...

UnitedHealth says data of 100 million stolen in Change Healthcare breach UnitedHealth has confirmed for the first time that over 100 million people had their personal information and healthcare data stolen in the Change Healthcare ransomware attack, marking this as the largest healthcare data breach in recent years. Lawrence Abrams BleepingComputer

...

Crackdown on Homeless Encampments Raises Public Health Questions - KFF Health News As states turn to the health-care system to help address homelessness, experiments with housing and other social services aimed at getting people healthier and off the streets are running up against new, aggressive crackdowns — with some cities ratcheting up enforcement of existing anticamping laws and others passing new restrictions. From Florida to California, elected […] khnerich KFF Health News

...

U.S. CDC recommends expanding pneumococcal vaccines to adults aged 50-64

Maternal COVID infections may affect newborn heart development Ten percent of newborns in the COVID-19 group had abnormalities, compared with 4% in the control group. CIDRAP

Maternal COVID-19 infection during pregnancy may adversely affect the development of the newborn's heart, resulting in congenital heart defects (CHD), researchers suggested yesterday in Scientific Reports.

...

85% of American Youth Polled Worry About Climate Change, Want More Action From Government and Corporations - EcoWatch A supermajority of young Americans polled feel distressed about climate change and want stronger action from corporations and the government. Cristen Hemingway Jaynes EcoWatch

In the survey — the largest of its kind — most of the 16,000 respondents aged 16 to 25, from every state in the country, said they were worried about the impact climate change was having on humans and the planet, reported the Chicago Tribune.